Updates prices to late afternoon, adds oil settlement levels

By Sinéad Carew and Naomi Rovnick

NEW YORK/ LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. equities followed European stocks higher on Friday, angling to end a bumpy week on a positive note, although safe-haven gold hit a record high with investors still showing some signs of anxiety about the economic impact of tariffs.

German government bond yields and the euro rose on Friday with German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz saying he had secured crucial backing of the Greens for a massive increase in state borrowing .

Germany's news also helped boost U.S. Treasury yields, according to Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers.

The strategist attributed equity gains on Friday to the fact that the S&P 500 confirmed it was in a correction on Thursday.

"It's a reflection of the pain we've already endured in markets. It's been a sharp decline from the highs in mid-February," said Melson.

"You're seeing some signs of it at least getting an intermediate low and a little bit of a relief rally," he said. "There's not really anything meaningful in the way of news to really drive a rally other than just the technicals."

On Wall Street, at 02:43 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 609.02 points, or 1.49%, to 41,422.59 while the S&P 500 .SPX rose 104.46 points, or 1.89%, to 5,625.98.

The benchmark index had finished Thursday more than 10% below its February record close after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on European wine and spirit imports, the latest trade war escalation after Europe retaliated against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium.

The S&P milestone came just a week after the Nasdaq .IXIC confirmed it was in a correction, also with tariff and growth uncertainties, as well high valuations for megacap tech stocks in play. On Friday, the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 405.39 points, or 2.34%, to 17,708.41.

MSCI's broadest gauge of global stocks .MIWO00000PUS rose 13.37 points, or 1.63%, to 834.96 on Friday but was still eyeing its biggest weekly fall since December.

Earlier, the pan-European STOXX 600.STOXX index had closed up 1.14%.

Also on Friday, Spot gold XAU= breached $3,000 an ounce for the first time in early London trading before losing ground. The precious metal is still up 13.7% year-to-date, as trade wars and growth worries have boosted its safe-haven appeal.

However, its time at the record was fleeting with spot gold XAU= last down 0.12% at $2,984.19 an ounce.

In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark German 10-year Bunds DE10YT=RR was last at 2.873% after earlier rising as high as 2.936%.

In U.S. Treasuries, yields rose as the stock market recovery reduced safe-haven demand for U.S. government debt.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR rose 3.2 basis points to 4.308%, from 4.276% late on Thursday.

The 2-year note US2YT=RR yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 6.2 basis points to 4.015%, from 3.953% late on Thursday.

"What you've had over the past week or two is a repricing of what's called the Trump put lower for equities, while at the same time, understanding that tariffs are probably here to stay in some form and aren't just a negotiating tactic," said Zachary Griffiths, senior strategist at CreditSights.

In currencies, the euro gained broadly after the reports about Germany. Against the dollar, the euro EUR= up 0.26% at $1.088 while against the pound EURGBP=D3 it gained 0.44% and rose 0.56% against the Swiss franc EURCHF=EBS.

Against the Japanese yen JPY=, the dollar strengthened 0.47% to 148.51 while against the Swiss franc CHF=, the greenback strengthened 0.33% to 0.885, with support from hopes the U.S. government would avoid a shutdown over the weekend.

Oil prices regained ground on Friday after falling sharply in the previous session, as investors weighed diminishing prospects of a quick end to the Ukraine war that could bring back more Russian energy supplies to Western markets.

U.S. crude CLc1 settled up 0.95% at $67.18 a barrel for the session while Brent LCOc1 settled at $70.58 per barrel, up 1%, or 70 cents.

Earlier in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed up almost 1% but lost almost 1.5% for the week.

(Reporting by Sinéad Carew, Karen Brettell in New York, Samuel Indyk and Naomi Rovni ck in London and Rae Wee in Singapore; Editing by Kate Mayberry, Rachna Uppal, Andrew Heavens and Aurora Ellis)

((Samuel.Indyk@thomsonreuters.com))